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This Gingerbread Village Took 340 Pounds Of Sugar Icing & 168 Hours To Make — PHOTOS
'Tis the season for baking all sorts of delicious, beautiful, and, oftentimes, quick and easy holiday treats. But I have a feeling you might be inspired to step up your game after seeing this gingerbread village masterpiece that took a whopping 340 pounds of sugar icing and 168 hours of manpower to make. And those are just two factors that went into this glorious Christmas creation.
Currently on display at The Royal — one of Atlantis, Paradise Island's five properties in the Bahamas — is probably the biggest gingerbread village most people have ever seen. It's called the Atlantis Gingerbread Village, and the stats on this confectionary masterpiece at the oceanside resort will blow your mind. The sugary town required:
- 340 pounds of icing sugar
- 120 pounds of pasteurized egg white
- 100 pounds of sugar paste
- 8 pounds cinnamon cloves, ginger, nutmeg, spices, powder
- 40 pounds of white chocolate
- 60 pounds of dark chocolate
- 24 cans and 8 bags of faux snow
- 100 pounds of candies.
Just look at the sheer size of that thing. And yet, it's still so detailed.
It's not surprising to learn the Atlantis Gingerbread Village took the Atlantis Food & Beverage team 14 days to complete. Additionally, a team of three to five chefs were working on the project at a time for 12 hours a day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. — amounting to 168 hours in total.
What's more, the village was actually assembled and decorated in the Neptune Ballroom before it was taken apart and transported — by truck — to the Royal Lobby. (Talk about nerve-wracking!)
Now, since there's zero chance of living up to a gingerbread house on this scale, I'd like to point you in the direction of a few easy-to-assemble kits you can try with your family at home. Like this Holiday Oreo Chocolate Cookie House Kit. Big Lots' website says it's currently out of stock. But who knows, maybe you can still find them at your local store. And this Benton's gingerbread house kit from Aldi is my family's trusty standby. Or, this holiday camper gingerbread house kit from Target looks pretty neat — if you can still find it, that is.
Still, I seriously wish I could experience the magnitude of the Atlantis Gingerbread Village in person. Probably without my kids, because they would find a way to destroy or attempt to eat that masterpiece in two minutes flat.